L-Vis 1990
Neon Dreams
London electronic label Night Slugs have defined dance floors with indefinable dance music since early 2008, and the club turned label’s steady run of 12-inches have blessed us with thick synth chords, echoes of old-skool rave euphoria and futuristic house vibes. Night Slugs is the creation of Alex Sushon AKA Bok Bok and James Connolly AKA L-Vis 1990, and the the wider Night Slugs posse includes Girl Unit and Jam City from London, Kingdom from New York, Egyptrixx from Toronto and other trendsetters like Lil Silva, Mosca, Gucci Vump, Jaques Greene and Pearson sound. Both Alex and James are art and design graduates and they’ve developed a strong visual identity for the label, a design that everyone now copies. But they still manage to stay fresh and exciting, even if every bedroom hipster around the globe is copying their rectangular designs, symbolism and widescreen synths. By avoiding being labeled Post-dubstep, future garage or UK bass they stay interesting and experimental.
But now it’s all about L-Vis 1990 and his Neon Dreams. And in true Nigh Slugs spirit; expect the unexpected, like the fact that his debut isn’t even released on Nigh Slugs.. Neon Dreams opens with spoken words that fades into what turns out to be the strongest track on the album; the infectious last year’s “Forever You,” a Pumping and dreamy house tune with tons of bass, synth chords and soulful vocals. “The Beach” follows with a dark and gothic Detroit vibe with haunting strings and fast drums. The quality continues with “I Feel It,” with its ambient vibe, androgynous Robert Owens-like vocals, slappy bass lines and sharp hand claps. But from here on the record starts going in every direction; from the dark Depeche Mode-ish synthpop of “Play It Cool,” the featherlight and cheesy Chromeo sounding “Shy Light,” the melancholic “Tonight” – sounding like a Hercules and Love Affair B-side, and last but not least; the ultra-cheesy pop single “Lost In Love”. But wait, there’s more! There’s even a proggy Balearic track called “True Romance”. A nice smoked out ballad, with beautiful Zapp vocoder vocals called “One More Day” leads into final track “Neon Dreams,” with a heavy chopped up afrobeat and brutal keys, like minimalistic horror house, and it even has a full-on Swedish House Mafia break in the middle. So the record opens and closes with the 2 strongest and most recognizable L-Vis 1990-sounding tracks.
James Connolly has made his own private Best Of album, honoring all his influences, and playing 15 tracks over 55 minutes like an after midnight radio cast. Neon Dreams is surprisingly poppy, and that’s also the problem. It’s the more instrumental tracks that stand out, with his big and lush signature production. He should’ve kept it contemporary and new instead of recycling influences. There’s nothing really bad to say about Neon Dreams, but we know L-Vis 1990s potential, and next time around he hopefully focus on what he does best instead of showing how many styles he master. But with that said, I have a feeling that this album might be a grower.
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